Over the weekend, Jed Duggar married Katey Nakatsu in a ceremony that was very different from the kind his family usually hosts.
For one thing, many of the guests "attended" remotely, a rare concession to Covid-19 from a family that seldom takes any precautions for the sake of public health.
On top of that, the whole thing was far more secretive than the usual Duggar wedding.
Yes, it’s common for Jim Bob’s offspring to keep the exact date and location of their weddings under wraps, so as to avoid unwanted visits from overzealous fans.
But Jed and Katey took things a step further by keeping their whole relationship a secret!
For reasons that remain unclear, these two never even announced that they were courting.
In fact, they didn’t publicly acknowledge one another in any way until the day they got married.
Despite their best efforts at keeping their relationship on the down-low, however, Jed and Katey’s situation was quickly pieced together by online sleuths.
By the time their wedding day rolled around, it came as no surprise thanks to credible leaks from Jed’s best friend and others.
It wasn’t long before YouTube vlogger Katie Joy obtained footage from the ceremony.
And while fans may have known that these two were soon to get hitched, their vows still delivered quite a shock.
That’s because Jed and Katey went extremely old school before they said "I do."
And we’re talking old school even by Duggar standards.
"God has ordained that the husband be the head of the wife," Jed told his wife.
"He instructs me as the one that will be your husband and love unconditionally as Christ loves the Church," he continued.
"With Christ and by his grace, I vow to be your humble, spiritual leader. To be a man of the word, to remain faithful to you," the aspiring politician went on.
"To stay open with you, guard you, protect you, listen to your needs and love you whether you are healthy or sick, rich or poor, young or old."
"God has ordained that the wife be subject to her husband. He instructs me as the one who will be your wife to submit to your authority as you submit to Chris," Katey replied.
"I vow to submit to your leadership, pray for you always, trust you, honour you, be your greatest encourager, listen to your needs, and love you whether you are healthy or sick, rich or poor, young or old."
Needless to say, that sounds like a rather one-sided relationship.
We know the Duggars live in a highly patriarchal community, but all of this talk about Jed being Katey’s leader just comes off as creepy.
On YouTube and elsewhere, fans have been downright brutal in their assessment of Jed’s vows.
"These are the most disturbing vows I’ve ever heard," one commenter wrote according to UK tabloid The Sun.
"Way worse than all the other Duggar weddings. He seriously OWNS her."
"This just makes me so sad. The one thing positive thing I can say is that she was a beautiful bride," another wrote.
"She looked beautiful in her dress, but too bad the rest of the wedding is creepy as f–k," a third chimed in.
Clearly, this is another reminder that the Duggars’ values are out of step with the mentality of most 21st-century Americans.
Perhaps Jed and Katey kept their relationship a secret because they knew they were planning on embarking on a different sort of marriage.
And if that’s the case, Jed may want to reconsider his career in politics.
Privacy and public office don’t exactly go hand-in-hand!